Chapter 12 – Diversity

Having a diverse management is critical for a company to thrive and grow in a highly competitive industry like retail mall development. Simon Property Group has a diverse workforce and executive management. Below is a condensed org chart showing the makeup of Simon’s Executive Management

As you can see they have broken up the responsibilities quite well and have a variety of people overseeing or co-managing those operations. This allows the company to maximize efficiencies while capitalizing on their competitive advantages. There are additional areas they diversify and that is mall management. Simon breaks up the mall management between their premium outlets, mills brand, and regular malls. This is good because each have their own unique traits and targeted markets. The premium outlets are going for bargain shoppers that offer brand name retail at discounted prices. Mills is a type of mall Simon builds that has shopper experiences in mind and have both discount and regular retail. The regular mall is Simon’s regular development arm and although it is not the largest or most profitable of its lines, it targets a different audience than the other two mall lines and that is the reason for breaking up the mall division. Each division will have its own Executive management and they report back up through corporate. This is another reason Simon has prospered in an era where malls are dying and consumer shopping habits are changing.